In the Preface to the 2nd edition of Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth said that poetry should be the “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” The poets, painters and writers of the Romantic era reflect this in many ways. Their progressive thinking, revolutionary action, dramatic anti-establishment artistry and outspoken spontaneity often led them to criticize the aristocratic and political climate of the Age of Enlightenment. They also tended to have a strong disapproval for the scientific rationalization of nature. The Romantics influence was not only on literature, its movement spread throughout the artistic community of Europe and the world causing new developments in the fields of Philosophy, Social Science, Sculpture, Paintings, Music, and much more. In 1822 Jan Vaclav Vorisek published the first impromptu piano piece under the title “Impromptu.” The influence of this piece of music would cause a wave to spread through the way in which composers thought and felt.
In “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which is an abstract diction and has deeper meaning lying inside it, the poet gives us a beautiful image by explaining different views in the poem .However; we can see the beauty of his art by understanding the deeper philosophical meaning beneath the poem. The poet used personification, metaphors, symbolism, synecdoche and refrain to compare the cycle of nature with cycle of life. The main message of this poem tells us that with all the different effects that we cause to nature, eventually nature will dissolve us, our experiences and ideas and continue on its path. The Persona in this poem is the poet himself who gives us different images from a town and it’s sea shore .In the first line of the first stanza “The tide rises, the tide falls “(l.1), the poet is talking about a repeating cycle in nature. By paying close attention, we see that at the end of all three stanzas in this poem, Longfellow used refrain by repeating the same line.
Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum Est The poem is one of the most powerful ways to convey an idea or opinion. Intense imagery and compelling content in a poem gives a reader the exact feeling the author wanted. The poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est," an anti-war poem by Wilfred Owen, makes great use of these devices. This poem is effective because it combines both the mechanical and emotional parts of poetry. Owen's use of diction and figurative language emphasizes his point, showing that war is horrid and devastating.
“The Second Coming” and “Leda and the Swan” are both written by William Butler Yeats, who was an Irish poet and one of the most recognized figures of 20th century literature. These two influential poems explore Yeats’ general view with his philosophy, particularly his idea of a ‘gyre’ or a spiral. He put a lot of emphasis on the gyre, which is a tool invented by him to show how the world is going around. Yeats’ basic point was that we would need to move along the inner side of the gyre as we go towards the end of this world. His such view seems a bit extreme and outdated as he is comparing humans’ lives with the gyre that we evolve around this cone.
Jessica Crupi 2371771 HUMN 3B02 Lee Slinger The Romantic era was a period of war and revolutionary combat. War and rebellion were essential elements that influenced the flow of ideas in this period. An entire generation of European writers, composers, and artists were influenced by these events. War inspired romantic artists to address themes of liberty and democracy, while considering the function of revolution as an opportunity for political and social change. Writers used the spirit of the revolution to distinguish their poetic sensibilities.
In his stories, Poe clearly uses a variety of themes and literary devices that let us observe him as a Dark Romantic, rather than a Romantic. First of all, it is important to present a historical background, which explains the link between Romanticism and Dark Romanticism. When Romanticism arrived to the United States it brought the belief that emotion, imagination and intuition meant more than logical reasoning. The Romantics emphasized sensibility and beauty, as the things, which lead people towards the truth. Wikipedia defines Romanticism as “a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe (...).
This is important since this idea influenced and helped the writers of the future creating writings with modernistic characteristics mentioned by the two well-known modernists, Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot. Woolf shares her thoughts on modernism through her essay by explaining how a fiction should be written with modernistic ways like a spiritualist in her essay, “Modern Fiction.” While Woolf focused on that, T.S. Eliot wrote his works using not only modernistic views but also with his creative literary styles and languages in his essay, “Tradition and Individual Talents,” and his famous collection of poems, The Waste Land. Both of these writers might seem like they had different ideas, but they both elaborated on new methods that makes one’s work modernistic, making the future bright for their descendants and followers.
(2011:97) Dramatic Monologue is a device whereby the poet invents a character to provide the voice and opinion represented in the text. Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess”, addresses a rather complex character commonly found in the Victorian Era. The persona in this case, is the Duke of Ferrara. The poem, being a Dramatic Monologue, features a second character, the messenger, which the Duke addresses. Browning’s use of this Dramatic Monologue involves the reader in the process of assimilating and deconstructing the story of the Duke of Ferrara’s relationship with his ‘last duchess’ through his diction, style, structure and rhythmic pattern.
Rahn states “the logical outgrowth of literary Realism was the point of view known as Naturalism. This literary movement, like its predecessor, found expression almost exclusively within the novel” (23). Most American poets were using Naturalism shortly before and after the turn of the twentieth century. Naturalism required poets to go further and be more clarifying than Realism by finding the core causes for a person’s actions or beliefs within a poem. The logic was that certain factors like social conditions were unavoidable elements in someone’s life.
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” ,written by T S Eliot ,is a modernistic poem in the form of a dramatic monologue. The term “modernism” refers to a movement that began in the late 1800’s, merging with WWI, and continued to be influential after WWII. Modernist poets such as Eliot were concerned with breaking rules and traditions and finding a contemporary way of expression through variations of form and style. Such poets attempted to describe the world they saw before them in poetry, rather than create a fictional world for their readers. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is the first masterpiece of modernism; it is typically a modernistic poem in form, content and in representing the modern man.